The game of golf involves hitting a ball with a club. The ball often damages the surface it lands on. When the ball hits the ground, it causes a depression on the surface. As the surface is being depressed, most of the ground underneath the surface gets displaced. Some of it, however, gets compacted. The displaced ground typically forms a ridge around the depressed surface. The ridge extends beyond the ground surface level. This ridge and depression area is referred to as a "ball mark."
Current practice is to use a ball mark remover tool, often similar to a two pronged fork, to remove the indentations caused by the ball. In removing the ball marks the tool is inserted into the ground close to the ball mark, and at an angle such that the prongs extend underneath the ballmark. Pressure is then exerted against the tool so that the forward edge of the prongs rise, raising the ball mark so that it disappears from the golf green surface.
The removal of ball marks in this manner often causes an additional small ridge to be formed on the surface between the insertion point and the location of the ballmark, and such ridges disturb the smooth surface of the golf green. Nigrelli et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,632; Patterson U.S. Pat. No.4,884,805; Dowly et al. U.S. Pat,. No.4,984,790; and Laskowitz U.S. Pat. No.5,209,469 disclose improvements to ball mark repair tools, but do not address the above problem. Nor is a tool disclosed by the prior art with a radiused edge for removing a ridge, caused by ball impact, by "kneading" the ridge back to level ground. The disclosed tools have relatively flat edges which are not designed for kneading ground ridges back to ground level.
The radiused edge embodied in the present invention allows for kneading of the ridge back to ground while displacing the ground underneath the ridge to elevate the depressed area resulting in minor ground compaction. As the radiused surface of the edge is pressed against the ridge, it initially makes contact at a line along the surface length. As the radiused surface is pushed further, the area of contact with the ridge gradually increases. This gradual increase in the area of contact causes the ground underneath the ridge to be gradually displaced resulting in minor ground compaction.
Use of other edge surfaces for kneading a ridge, on the other hand, results in ground compaction with minor ground displacement. Compaction prevents the ground material from being displaced to the depressed ball mark area. Therefore, the ball mark cannot be repaired. A surface with a sharp edge, for example, would cause an indentation on the ground, resulting in ground compaction. This is so, because all of the force being applied to the tool is concentrated on the sharp edge making contact with the ground, rather than being spread over a wider area. If a flat edge surface is used, the same problem occurs if the flat surface is not parallel with the ground when making contact during the kneading process. Otherwise, the edge formed by the intersection of the side and edge surface of the tool would make contact with the ground first, resulting in the same problems faced with a sharp edge surface discussed above. In other words, with a flat edge surface the user must ensure that the edge surface always remains parallel to the ground. This results in a great inconvenience to the user because it limits the angle at which the prongs may be inserted into the ground, often preventing the prongs from reaching the ground material underneath the depression. This problem is alleviated with use of a radiused edge, because the user can insert the prongs at a plurality of angles while ensuring contact with the curved portion of the surface. This allows the prongs to be inserted into the ridge at the various angles necessary to reach the material underneath the depressed area of the ball mark. Furthermore, even if the flat surface is parallel to the ground surface when it makes contact, compaction of the ground kneaded may still occur. A flat surface, unlike a radiused surface, makes complete contact with the ground from the contact onset, thereby not providing for a gradual increase in contact area during the kneading process which fosters ground displacement.
Another feature of the present invention not disclosed by the prior art is a small enclosed case as part of the small golf tool. This small enclosed case which is preferably well sealed can be used to store different small articles needed in the game of golf. Currently, moistened pieces of cloth are used in the game of golf to aid in cleaning golf balls. These pieces of cloth are typically exposed to air which dries them out decreasing their cleaning capabilities. By storing these moistened pieces of cloth in the sealed case, they are able to remain moist for longer periods of time prolonging their useful life. Hatch U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,157; Wait U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,239; Hainey U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,278; Madock U.S. Pat. No. 5,022,650; Larson U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,123; McDonald U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,134; Liao U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,395; Notarmuzi U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,647; Great Britain 2,247,179A; and Japan 5-31217 all disclose ball mark remover tools to which various items may be attached. However, none disclose a small enclosed case.